Cho's Adventure
by Chiaki Uchiha
Summary: My first Fan Fiction ever
1. Strange aquantence

I was sitting in a tree, the sun was peeking through the leaves and I was nodding off. Just before I was asleep a little blue-brown fox-like creature with two tails jumped into my lap a curled up. I smiled and stroked its back as I cooed softly, "Hey there Shawnee, what have you been up to?" The little creature looked up at me and started to purr. I continued to pet its head and it suddenly got up and ran off. I thought to myself, why did Shawnee run off? I turned around to see what she had run away from and to me surprise there was a boy standing there, he was so quiet I hadn't noticed him. He had blood red hair, it looked like he was wearing eye make-up around his eyes and he had a huge gourd made of sand on his back.

I smiled a little and held out my hand, "Hi, I'm Cho, who are you?" He looked frightening; I almost didn't want to introduce myself. He glared at me then looked at my hand, the look he gave me made me shiver. I repeated myself, he then said in a very grim way, "I don't need to tell you that, you don't interest me," I was surprised at what he said and decided to see if he had a sense of humor, "So have you always been so cheerful?" bad mistake, I regretted it quickly after I said it. He glared at me and sand started to come out of the gourd on his back, I got ready for what ever was going to happen.

The next thing I know he was gone, I thought to myself as I dosed back off, that was fast.

When I woke up I was moving, still lying down, a guy with strange purple markings on his face was carrying me. I looked around and a pretty girl with 4 ponytails and a big fan on he back was next to me. I looked to the other side and it was the boy from before. I tried to remember what my sensei had told me about people from other villages. I thought hard, but he hadn't told me about any of them. I opened my mouth to ask something, but I couldn't seem to talk. Finally, after many attempts I say, "What is going on?" The girl looks at me but doesn't say anything, the guy that was carrying me said nothing, and he only looked at me with disgust. I thought to myself, geeze, do I really look that bad? When I tried to check my hair with my hands, then I realized that I was tied up. He had a good hold of me and my hands and ankles were tied up, I started to shake. They stopped and put me down, I was still shaking, not realizing it, I touched the ground and a vine came up and took a kunai out and cut the rope when they weren't looking.

I stood up and made a vine wrap around the boy with the gourd, I was not the least bit happy, "Who are you guys?" I asked a little shaky. The girl with the fan replied, "I'm Temari," she pointed to the guy with the purple markings, "That's Kankuro," she pointed to the boy who I had a hold of with my vines, "And that is Gaara, I suggest you let him go" I shook my head, not realizing the sand that was being wrapped around me. I tightened my grip with the vines; the sand was completely around me, except my head, I finally realized that. The vines let go but the sand didn't, I wasn't concerned. Temari looked at my and said, "You don't seem very worried girl, don't you know what's going to happen?" I thought, no I really don't, I shook my head again and said unsurely, "Should I be worried?" Kankuro said very annoyed with me, "You are so annoying, Gaara, what are you waiting for?" Gaara stood there but said nothing, Temari then said, "Because, if we kill her then there would be no point in going back, he wants her alive," she mumbled, "duh" I finally realized what he was going to do and started trembling. I thought for a while and finally said, "Th-that's right, I-I also can heal really well, and control plants," I thought, like that's going to work. Temari looked interested; "Really?" she said in a sideways voice, "That would be useful, if I cared." I tried to get out of the sand, but Kankuro just laughed at my pathetic attempt. I got my arms out, like that makes a difference. I continued to explain why he should let go, "I also have extraordinary upper body strength," Gaara didn't look interested in anything she was saying. I sighed and just waited, "If you don't let me go, I will continue talking until you do, and-" Kankuro put his hand over my mouth.

I mumbled something, like he cared, I smiled under his hand and bit him, and he let go ad started cursing. I was smiling and continued to talk about useless things, the sand got tighter so I couldn't breathe. I thought, that's another way to shut me up. I closed an eye, the sand hurt a lot, Temari then said, "Why don't you let her go? She seems like she would be quiet enough." Gaara didn't say anything, the sand let go and I fell to the ground gasping for air. Kankuro was holding his hand; it was bleeding from when I bit him. I asked him, still trying to catch my breath, "Would you like me to heal that?" He just glared at me sitting there and said flatly, "No." I stood up and brushed myself off, "Fine by me," I walked over to Gaara and poked him.

Now, there are some people who scream to be poked and really don't care if you do, and there are some people that have written on them, poke me and you die. Gaara is someone who you have to poke to find out. He turned his eyes towards me and glared at me, I took a step back. He was defiantly one of those people who say, touch me you die. I smiled and waved sheepishly. I decided to head back to the village, as soon as I turned around Kankuro was standing there. I said as politely as possible, "Excuse me; I'd like to go back now." Kankuro scoffed, "You aren't going anywhere."


	2. Kidnap

I stood there in awe, I couldn't think of anything to say except, "Why not?" the words just popped out of my mouth like a bad taste. Temari cut in, "why do you think you deserve to know?"

I thought for a minute, "well…" I started but before I could say anything else someone said, "What is taking so long?" I looked, of course, it's Gaara, figures.

I was going to answer that too when Kankuro had grabbed my wrists in one hand, and said, "We were just coming." I tried to free my hands, but it was just a pathetic attempt. He didn't tie my hands up this time, but it seemed worst in a way that he was holding **both** my hands in just one of his.

He pushed me forward but I persistently dug my heals into the ground. Temari was watching, she seemed amused that Kankuro was having trouble handling me. Finally she said, "Hey Kankuro, do you need help with the girl?" He didn't say anything, but I tried to turn around to see the look on his face, he twisted my arm.

"Loosen up a little Kank-" Before I could even finish he practically broke my arm, I stopped struggling. He let go of my wrists and I fell to the ground, my arm hurt a lot.

Temari picked me up, not very gently, but it was better than Kankuro. I was tired and didn't feel like trying. The look on Kankuro's face was so funny! I knew exactly why he looked annoyed.

I realized it was late, I was really tired but I didn't want to fall asleep, incase something happened.

The three started to hop from tree-to-tree again; my arm glowed and started to feel better. Temari looked at my arm but said nothing. She lost her footing and tripped.

The next thing I know I'm in the air flying right at Gaara, I thought fast and a tree branch caught me quickly. He turned around and I was hanging onto the branch and smiling at him.

"Hello." I said casually with a smile as I was hanging. He murmured something but I didn't hear it.

When I jumped from the branch I was hanging on I landed next to Gaara, "What did you say? I couldn't hear you. He crossed his arms and repeated himself only louder this time.

"You are annoying." He said, not even caring if it hurt my feelings. I smiled and thought, y_eah and you are down-in-the-dumps all the time, but you don't hear me telling you that._

I crossed my arms, "So?" I protested. I flinched a little when he lifted his hand to adjust his gourd.

"Why are you so flinchy girl?" Gaara smirked. I shrugged not knowing what to say. I decided to help Temari up, since she probably got hurt worse than me. When I looked Kankuro and Temari were both standing there, _they were probably watching me 'communicate' with Gaara, I thought._

I smiled weakly and waved at them. They just looked at me, I said in my usual perky tone, "So can I just like willingly come with you guys? Like so none of you have to carry me?" I looked at Temari; she didn't look at all guilty.

I could tell that Kankuro didn't trust me, no surprise there. Temari was thinking about it, and Gaara, well, I can't tell, he is just standing there.

"Well…?" I said anxiously. Kankuro started to say no but Temari cut him off, "Ok, but if you pull anything funny," Kankuro looked annoyed that Temari kept cutting him off.

"You haven't done anything to gain my trust." Kankuro grimly mumbled, Temari looked at him and cleared her throat, "Excuse me, but I was talking"

I giggled a little and thought, _it must be fun to have family close to you…_


	3. Failed exit

After a few minutes of the two bickering I decided that I could try and go back, it was getting really boring. As soon as I turned around, it was like he read my mind, Gaara was standing there, his arms were crossed and he looked a little annoyed.

I laughed nervously and waved slightly, "um… h-hi Gaara…" He glared at me like I was some sort of parasite. _Maybe I should try and get past him while Temari and Kankuro are busy arguing, _I thought. I shifted my eyes around, trying to avoid any eye contact what so ever, as I thought of a plan.

Nothing.

I couldn't think of anything, well, I thought of something, but it wouldn't work. I sighed, it is the only thing I have, I might as well use it to buy some time, and entertain myself, and I smiled a little.

Gaara said in his usual sad/angry tone, "What are you smiling about?" I looked at him; I practically froze up, "oh! I-I uh… was just… um…" I had already forgotten my plan, great…

_I don't know much about any of them, sometimes I wish someone came to my rescue, anyone, even Naruto…_, I thought to myself as I stared into Gaara's eyes. He had the strangest eyes, it's hard to explain, but he looked like he wanted to kill everything. I took a step back.

I thought as I looked into his eyes, _He looks like he has been hurt, but he is also angry, just looking at him makes me feel upset and disturbed. _I shivered a little._ Although he is kind of cute, if he wasn't so ill tempered then I might actually like him._ _To bad though, he is so disturbing to be around, I don't' think I like him very much._

After a LONG moment of awkward silence Gaara said a little annoyed, "Well?" I realized I hadn't finished my sentence. I smiled weakly, "heh, sorry…" Temari and Kankuro finally stopped talking, Temari cam over to me and Gaara, "Hey guys! What are you two doing?" I sighed, saved by the bell, or erm… Temari.

I didn't say anything; Temari smiled a little, "You wouldn't happen to be flirting now would you?" My face turned bright pink, "No!" I blurted out quickly. I looked at Gaara; it looked like he hadn't even heard what she said.

I crossed my arms, and thought, _geeze, the sooner I get away from them the better,_ I stood there silent, my face had returned to back to its normal shade of tan.

My eyes shifted from side-to-side, I felt fidgety, and I really wanted to run. My index finger twitched a little, I noticed Gaara's eye shift to my hand.

Without thinking I ran, I ran as fast as I could right past Gaara. I didn't bother to look back, I was too scared. I bet all not even two of them were after me, they knew I was no threat to them. They underestimate me; I don't like it when they do that.

When I put my foot down, sand quickly wrapped around it, I fell down hard. I knew exactly what had stopped me, only I was too terrified to even look.

I struggled to get my foot out as the sand slowly crept up my leg, I was still full of energy, and I hadn't even used up hardly any chakra yet. I tried to pull my leg out once more, then Gaara says, "It's no use, that sand is as dense as I want it to be,"

I sighed, and looked, as it turns out I was wrong, all not just Gaara, but all three of them had gone after me, _Great,_ I thought to myself.

'The more the merrier,' as my Sensei had always said to me. I sighed, the sand stopped crawling u my leg, but I still couldn't free myself. As I sat there, waiting for the sand to let go, I thought, _there goes my chance of going with them willingly._

Eventually, after a **really** long time, the sand let go, I stood up, but I sort of wish I had just stayed down. I never liked getting lectured, and now, I knew that I was about to get lectured for sure. Kankuro looked totally ticked off, I smiled slightly, "um… so I'm guessing that was my chance?"

Gaara just glared at me, it was pretty obvious, even though he didn't say anything, he was mad. I sighed and sat down and held up, what looked like a hand sign of some sort, and I could tell that Kankuro sure thought it was. I held out both my pinkies and put my hands together.

I noticed it was dark, and probably pretty late, as I sat there my eyes began to close.

**Chiaki:** Please review, I usually don't write anything here, but please if there is something wrong, you can flame me, I don't mind. As long as it gets fixed, everyone is happy -♥


	4. A day in the desert

The next thing I know, its morning and I am moving. I was still really sleepy but I think someone was carrying me. _Who is it? Temari or Kankuro?_ I thought as I opened my eyes more.

I was shocked to see Gaara, "Put me down!" I wined, not knowing what might happen.

"Gladly," He said as he dropped me on the dusty ground. That's when I realized that we were no longer in the forest that I knew. I looked around, nothing but sand, and a few cacti.

All three of them had stopped, they looked exhausted, Temari sat down, but Kankuro and Gaara were standing. _I guess now I can't run away, I don't even know where I am,_ I thought miserably.

I really wanted to train some, since I was supposed to train at least once or twice a day. My sensei had told me that the more I train, the better I will get.

I stood up and announced, like they were listening, "I want to train," They all looked like they would pass out any second, except Gaara. I continued, "Will one of you train with me? I want to get stronger."

Kankuro had an eager expression on his face, but before he could say anything, Gaara butted in, "No." I looked at him and smirked, "Well, the question wasn't aimed at only you," I put my hands on my hips and stuck out my tongue. He glared at me but said nothing; He put his hand on his head and groaned a little.

I felt sorry for him, he looked like he was in a lot of pain, so I decided to try and comfort him. I walked over to him and put my hand on his shoulder. He looked at me evilly, "Don't touch me," he grimaced. I, of course, didn't listen to him, "Are you ok?"

Sand started to come out of the gourd and slammed me hard in the stomach. I fell hard against something, it was Kankuro, and I grabbed my stomach.

_I know he didn't want me even touching him, but what just happened?_ I felt like I couldn't breathe, I looked at Gaara who had lowered his hand again, so both his arms were dangling.

He looked like a rag doll on a shelf, standing there; there was no **one** expression on his face. The atmosphere was so tense that is gave me shivers.

It was quiet for a while, I was sitting on Kankuro's feet, and Temari was sitting there looking a little concerned. I felt fidgety again, my finger was twitching, Gaara locked at my hand then glared at me, "Don't even think about it."

I replied like it was obvious, "I have no clue where I am, why would I?" I tried to sound as un-afraid as possible, but it didn't really work. Kankuro tried to shake me of his foot like a bug, "Good point, but that doesn't mean that you can do what ever you want." He said a little annoyed.

I stood up and crossed my arms, "Well it's not like I wanted to get hit with sand and land on you!" I protested. Temari, not wanting to have a fight said quickly, "Well, let's keep moving, we are almost there." She started to walk some.

_Almost where? _I thought as I reluctantly followed them. Gaara was behind me the whole time, I felt very uncomfortable, I felt as if he was watching me, waiting for me to trip or something.

Thud!

That's exactly what I did, I tripped over a small rock, it was practically a pebble, and I landed flat on my face. The ground was hard and rocky, and I think I broke my nose, I didn't bother getting up, I was too embarrassed.

Gaara stopped, but Temari and Kankuro kept on going, they obviously didn't notice me fall. I lifted my head, my hand was glowing as I touched my nose, and it healed quickly.

I stood up and brushed myself off, I couldn't help but look at Gaara, he was just standing there, he looked like he didn't see me fall, and my face was full of scratches and kind of red. I looked around to see what I tripped on, nothing was there but sand, like there was everywhere else.

I looked at Gaara again; he had no expression on his face. I opened my mouth, but before I could ask he said, "Yes, that was me." I was surprised; he didn't even know that's what I was going to ask. I smiled a little.

"What was?" I asked as if I didn't know what he was talking about, he looked a little angry, he started walking again. As he walked by me I was about to poke him, he looked at me and before I knew it I was shoved forward.

Not with a hand, but obviously with sand, I nearly lost my balance and fell, but miraculously I caught myself and caught up with the other two. I sighed **really** loudly, Kankuro turned around; he looked at me in a way that said, shut-the-heck-up-and-keep-moving!

I picked up the pace a little bit. It was getting dark and I was tired, I wanted to stop, but I knew that if I did, SOMEONE would carry me, and I didn't want that, so I kept walking, only slower than usual. Temari stopped, and Kankuro just barely stopped himself from running into her, "Hey! Temari, why did you stop?"

I sighed, I was pretty sure that I knew why she had stopped, "Why do you think she stopped dummy?" Kankuro turned around and grabbed the collar of my shirt and lifted me a good foot in the air. "H-hey, l-lemme go, I-I can't breathe." I struggled to get out of his grasp.

"You know something kid? You really tick me off," He threw me aside and I nearly crashed into Gaara. I sat there, catching my breath and Gaara looked at me pitifully, Temari yawned slightly, "I'm getting tired, can we make camp for tonight?"

_Finally, she comes up with a good idea, _I thought as I laid down, avoiding Gaara as much as possible. Kankuro muttered something under his breath as he set up the tent. Temari was the first one in, then Kankuro, I didn't feel like sleeping with either one of them, I sat up and looked at Gaara, "Aren't you going to sleep?"

"No." He replied, not even looking at me, he was so calm about it, I sighed, "Well, I can't sleep, so I am going to talk to you until I-" Something hit me in the back of the head, I fell down unconscious.


	5. Traveling alone

The next morning, I woke up, my head was on a soft pillow and a warm blanket was on me. I sat up, I felt dizzy and my head was throbbing with pain.

The tent was empty, so I went outside; Temari was anxiously waiting for me. "Good morning sleepy head," She said with a gentle smile. "Hunh?" I said, still tired and dizzy, "Gaara said that you fell asleep while talking to him last night, so he brought you in." Temari smiled again.

I rubbed my head and mumbled, "Yeah right that little liar," not realizing he was right next to me I turned and ran right into him, still a little dazed, I took a step back. He was staring at me, I rubbed my eyes sleepily and stared right back, I was grumpy because I had just woken up.

"Liar," I mumbled again, only this time, loud enough so that he could hear me, I glared at him as rudely as I could. He glared right back, only when he did it, it made me shiver.

I turned around; I was tired of getting glared at by him, even if I started it. It was as if there was a huge sand storm had been frozen in time, as it turned out to be a village, made entirely of sand.

"Well, I don't want to go." I stated out of the blue. I crossed my arms and turned my back to all of them. "Then go," some one, either Kankuro or Gaara said, she couldn't tell.

"Huh?" I asked as I turned to the voice, it was Gaara. He pointed in the opposite direction, "Then go." He repeated. I was confused, I looked at Temari; she seemed just as confused, I cautiously walked in the direction he was pointing, it felt as if they were following me, I looked back, they weren't.

_How strange, to bring me this far then say I can go?_ I thought as I continued walking, after a while, I realized I had no clue where I was going, it was the middle of the desert and I was really thirsty. I looked back, but no one was there. _What a bore,_ I thought as I kept going, it felt as if someone was watching me, but every time that I looked back there was no one.

I was getting a little upset because I seemed to be getting nowhere. I looked up at the blazing hot sun; it wasn't as high up as I thought. I kept on walking for what seemed like forever, it got dark so I decided to stop for a while.

When I woke up, it was bright again; I was hungry and even more frustrated. I got up and started walking again, my feet hurt and I wasn't quite aware of my surroundings, if someone was following me, I was too tired to notice. A tear rolled down my cheek, I had stopped and collapsed to my knees, _now I get it, he knew that it wasn't very smart to travel alone here._

I felt a hand on my shoulder, my vision was blurry from tears and I didn't have enough energy to fight. When I looked to see who it was I blinked the tears away, the person was gone.

_Had it been my imagination,_ I thought as I stared at the place where the person had been. _Who ever it was, they are gone now, no point in calling out to them._ I yawned, I decided to rest during the day, and move at night, that way it would be cooler.

My eyes closed and I felt like I would never wake up, my mouth was dry and my mind was filled with new questions. Amazingly I managed to go to sleep. When I was asleep, I felt myself getting lifted off the ground; at first I had thought it was a dream.

I opened my eyes, there was a piece of fruit that I had seen on cactus, and a bowl of water next to me, and I picked up the fruit and peeled off the edge. I looked around before I took a bite, _geeze, _I thought_, and just when I thought I had gotten rid of them._

I was looking at Temari; Kankuro was to her left and Gaara to the right. I set the fruit down where I found it, but I was so thirsty that I drank the water, it tasted dirty, but it seemed fine. I set the bowl down; it was quiet for a while.

"You knew I would get lost didn't you?" I muttered as I looked at Gaara. He didn't say anything. Temari sat down next to me, "Aren't you going to eat that? I'd assume that you would be hungry." She said as she pointed to the fruit. My stomach rumbled, _I am,_ I thought as I reached and grabbed the fruit.

"So, does this mean that I have to come with you?" I said sounding kind of upset. "If you don't want to die in the desert." Kankuro scoffed like it was obvious. I crossed my arms and mumbled, "Fine, I will go 'There'" I made quotations when I said there.

I tried to stand up, but my legs hurt from walking so much, I was about half way up and my knees buckled and I fell back down, "Um…" I started sheepishly, "Can we go tomorrow?" Temari sighed, "Geeze, you really don't have much stamina."

"Well it's not like I came prepared," I looked at Kankuro angrily, "I was sort of forced to come with you remember?" I tried to get up again, I fail once more. I laid my head back and out my hands behind my head and started to go to sleep.

Before I knew it, it was another day, I didn't want to wake up, "Get up." I heard some one say with a stern voice, I opened an eye only to see Gaara's welcoming face, yeah right. I groaned a little, "Geeze, you don't waste any time do you Gaara?"

H_is name is so strange to say, and why is he always so grumpy, last time I tried to even talk to him, I was pretty sure he knocked me uncurious, _I thought while getting up. He said nothing; Kankuro had already packed up the tent and was annoyed at having to wait for me.

I didn't feel like walking, right now I didn't care who carried me, I just didn't want to walk. I stood there; a little wobbly and thirsty again, I looked around some, "Hey guys, where did you get that water?" Temari got up, "The cactus." She replied, I held my stomach with both hands.

"Don't worry, its completely harmless," Kankuro smirked, "Unless you have a weak stomach." _Just peachy,_ I thought_, I can use this as an excuse._

"Great," I mumbled, "Just what I need." I remarked sarcastically. I felt just fine, I was faking it, I was extremely good at this that was how I skipped a lot of classes. I put a hand over my mouth, like I was going to puke. Temari bent over and put her hand on my head, "You're fine, stop faking."

My eyes went wide and my arms dropped, _how did she know?_ I thought. "Now get up girl." Gaara said as he started to walk away. I reached out for his shoulder; a wall of sand blocked him. I took a step back, "I have a name you know." I watched the sand settle, _he wasn't even looking at me, how did he know?_

Gaara ignored me and kept on walking, I followed him, knowing that if I did then we would eventually get to a village.


	6. Wanted

When we got closer to the village, I noticed that the places weren't made of sand, but there was just so much dirt in the air that the air was brownish. I coughed a little, my lungs were already in bad enough shape as it was, now we were about to go into a city of dust.

The sign said Sand Village on it, we walked right through, I tried to look around, but they seemed to be in a hurry, everyone was looking at me. I felt uneasy here, we finally stopped in front of a small looking house with a door the size of itself. It opened as if it were expecting us.

Gaara walked through and I followed him, then Temari, and Kankuro. It was kind of dark, and it took my eyes a little bit to get used to the dark, once they did, I saw a man with a white cloth over half his face standing there. Temari stood to the right of Gaara, then Kankuro stepped up to the left. I stood there, staring at the man.

"You guys are late," The man spoke sternly. "I'm sorry Baki-senei," Temari said bowing her head a little. I giggled a little, _Baki? What kind of weirdo name was that?_ I thought a little amused. He glared at me, just like Gaara did, "This is the wrong girl and not only that, and you didn't make it to your deadline,"

Before he could finish I pushed through Kankuro and Gaara, "So you are telling me, that even though, they worked there butts off, even though they brought the wrong girl, you are still going to scold them? What kind of Sensei are you? That's not the-"

I didn't even finish my sentence, when he smacked my face; I stumbled back a little bit, "Shut up girl, that's none of your business." He pointed to one of the holes in the wall, I think it was supposed to be a door way and I obediently walked in there.

As soon as I disappeared behind the wall, he started talking again, I peeked out a little. He held out a picture, it was a really old picture of what I used to look like before I cut my hair, the only reason I knew that was because in the descriptions it said, "_Abilities, Healing and Plant jutzus" _

Baki started to lecture them, "This is the one you were looking for, not that pathetic street girl," I felt really hurt that he thought I was a street girl. Gaara asked, "What about the girl? What do we do with her?" Baki replied, uncaring. "Take her back, kill her, and do what ever you want just get her out of my sight before tomorrow."

I didn't hear anything after kill her, I was wanting really bad to just run back, but I already tried that, it didn't work, and there were no windows, the only place to leave was the door they entered through. Sand began to come out of the guard, I wasn't sure what he was going to do, his Sensei spoke up, "Gaara, do that outside, I don't want a mess to clean up in here."

I was trembling, _is he really going to kill me? Either way, if I say that I **am** the girl on the poster, I might be killed, and if I don't, I will be killed._ The sand went back in, he walked over to me, I was still shaking, and Temari and Kankuro followed him. Without thinking I pushed Gaara out of the way and ran out the door.

As soon as I got out though, I started coughing and fell to my knees; I couldn't breathe because there was too much dust in my lugs. I held my chest, my hand glowed, I had never healed my lugs before, but I had to try. Temari walked out, she looked at me, "What is your name again?"

_Now she wants to know,_ I thought as I tried to get the dust out of my lungs, I mumbled something, because that's all I could say. Kankuro and Gaara came out, _great,_ I thought as my chest started to feel lighter. I took a deep breath in, then coughed again as I stood up, I didn't look at Gaara.

Temari asked again, "What is your name?" This time I could talk, but I wasn't sure if I wanted to, "Cho," I mumbled quietly, the sand started to come out of the Gourd and wrap around me.

Temari looked at me, "I couldn't hear you," I repeated a little louder so that she could hear, "Cho." It was obvious that Gaara hadn't heard, because the sand was getting tighter and I couldn't breathe very well. Temari heard me, she ran inside, I was struggling to get out; I knew he was planning on killing me.

"G-Gaara," I said, completely out of breath, "make… make the sand… l-let go," He just looked at me, he made, what I thought was a hand sign, he started to put his hands together, Temari came running out with the picture and held it up to me, "This was just an old photo of her, see?" she pointed to the abilities, "Healing, we saw her do that, and plants, we saw her do that!"

The sand began to loosen as Gaara read the paper, Temari turned it around, and it said Cho on the back. I was straining to get out, and the sand let go. I stumbled a little but stayed upright, Gaara went back in as the sand was flowing back into his guard. Kankuro walked in too, I was tired and I thought, _Might as well go in, and they might let me sleep._

There were three doorways, Gaara went into the middle one, so I decided against going in that one, I walked into the one on the left, it was empty, I looked around, and in the room on the right, and it was empty too. I assumed that they were all empty. Temari and Kankuro walked in, I decided not to say anything or ask any questions.

They both went in the middle one, it was getting darker, so there was hardly any light inside, and I didn't want to turn on the light switch, I walked into the middle room, there were 3 figures, Kankuro who was lying down, Gaara who was standing next to him, and Temari on the other side.

I walked in, I couldn't see anything, I tripped on someone, probably Kankuro and landed on something hard and lumpy, I heard the person I tripped over groan a little, the light clicked on, I was right I tripped on Kankuro, he was now awake, Temari had turned on the light which only means that I was sitting on Gaara.

I looked up, he was looking at me, I was sitting on his feet, "Get off," He said while still glaring down at me. I instantly scrambled to my feet, "Sorry," I said bowing my head a little. I sat down next to Gaara, at least 3 feet away though, "Did I wake you up?" I asked him.

He shook his head but seemed to stare through the wall, I wasn't sure if he heard me or not. Temari turned the light back off and sat down next to Kankuro. I sighed a little, "Aren't you tired?" I asked Gaara, if he shook his head, I couldn't see, it was too dark.

"Why are you always so quiet?" I questioned irritably. He ignored me and walked out; I decided to follow him out, to see where he was going. He went onto the roof, I followed him, except when I landed I made a loud thud. He looked at me, "Why are you following me?" he asked.

I shrugged, "I don't know, why are you leaving instead of sleeping?" I replied in the same tone as him, only mimicking him a little. He looked at me, well more like past me, but I knew he was talking to me, "Because I can't sleep, now go away." I crossed my arms and reluctantly went back inside, the moonlight made it brighter outside than it was inside, I would have rather stayed outside.


	7. Nagoshi Ashumari

As I walked in, I yawned silently, I realized that I was more tired than I thought. I sat next to Kankuro and leaned on him a little, hoping he was asleep.

I had a horrible dream, my companion and only friend, Shawnie was sitting there, waiting for me to come back, but I never came, she started to walk away, and leave me. I was crying a little as I watched Shawnie walk away.

"Girl wake up," I heard a voice; I thought it was a dream; I opened my eyes and realized that I was still on Kankuro, he was awake and his arm was damp, I was still crying.

He was looking at me angrily, "Get off me." He scolded me, I sat up and wiped my face with my sleeve, Temari had turned on the light and Gaara was still outside I guessed. Gaara walked in, I was still crying a little, I looked at him and wiped my eyes again.

Temari walked out as her sensei had called for her, Gaara stared through me again. It made me shiver and forget about my dream, "I want to go back." I declared.

I really wanted to see Shawnie again, she could make it through the terrain better than me and if she tried to follow me, I knew she could, but she was just as afraid of everything as I was. I stood up, still tired and tried to walk through the door, Temari came in and nearly ran me over, "We have to go today." She announced.

I looked at her, "Go where?" I asked confused. Temari replied, "To the Kazekage." I obviously appeared confused because she explained to me, "He is like the Hokage." I thought for a moment then nodded.

"I don't want to go," I said reluctantly. Kankuro walked up behind me, "That's not a choice." I walked casually between Gaara and Temari, when I go to the door I stopped, I didn't know why, I just did. Why won't I move? I kept asking myself, I could walk, but something in my mind said stay.

I took a step out and found it easier as I walked through the strange town, People were watching me from the shadows and I felt uneasy, now I had realized why my mind was saying that. I looked around and realized that just about all the buildings looked almost exactly alike; I didn't know which one I had just come from.

When I walked in one, something was thrown at me and I ran out as quickly as possible, I checked another one and it wasn't the right one, it smelled of alcohol and smoke, I looked around, trying to remember how many steps I took, I went into another one a little frantic now and nearly ran into Gaara.

I sighed, a little glad that I had found the right one, I smiled, "I'm back." I whimpered a little as I smiled. "You got lost didn't you?" Temari appeared from out of one of the rooms. I crossed my arms and was going to say something, but what she had said was true, I got lost.

Kankuro walked out of the room too, it was cool in here considering it had only a fan about the size of my head. If I lived here I might get used to it, if Shawnie was here with me. "We will leave now," Kankuro stated. Gaara walked out first; I followed him, not wanting to get lost again, then Kankuro and Temari.

Every person there was either staring at me or giving me nasty looks, I was frightened, and I realized that no one was even looking at Gaara. I ran up to him and decided to walk beside him, if we were any closer our shoulders would touch. He looked at me; I probably looked terrified because he didn't say anything.

There was a greenish sort of dull looking purse on the ground, I ran over to it "Hey guys! Look!" I bent down to pick it up, Kankuro flinched as the Kunai went right past me, I stood up, not noticing that it was a trap. I held up the purse, "We should return this to the lost and found!" I looked around and saw a broken sign that read lost-and found.

I waited for Gaara to catch up, while I saw waiting, a man grabbed my wrist and held a kunai to my neck, "You little brat," He had a gruff voice, "Trying to steal from my daughter." I looked over to where he was gesturing, there was a timid, almost frightened looking girl standing there, I let go of the purse and it fell to the ground.

"I was going to return it to the-" Before I could finish, I saw a blur and the man had let go, it looked as if he was hit, but I saw nothing, then the blur stopped. It was a girl, she was visibly taller than Gaara but looked exactly like him, except for the eyes, and she looked nicer and had longer hair.

She looked at me and held out her hand, "I'm Nagoshi." I looked at her hand then suspiciously back at her; Gaara was next to me, he was so quiet it made me jump when he talked, "Move." I looked at him confused, "Gaara, she jus helped me," I looked back, the man had already left and the purse was gone.

Nagoshi repeated herself, "I'm Nagoshi, who are you?" Sand had started to come out of Gaara's gourd, I didn't get why she was so happy in a place like this, she must be lost. She suddenly disappeared and reappeared behind Gaara, I turned quickly to face her but she did it again and again I got dizzy and fell over, but Gaara hadn't moved.

I stood up, Nagoshi repeated herself once more, and Gaara had made a hand sign, it was the same one he used before. I put my hand on his shoulder, "Gaara don't," I pleaded; he just glared at me and brushed my hand off. Nagoshi ran at him in a visible speed, just before she hit him, she disappeared and tripped him, I flinched but the sand caught him.

Temari and Kankuro had run to where we were, Temari looked at Nagoshi, who looked a lot like Gaara even though they weren't related. I watched as she easily picked on Gaara, he seemed to get more and angrier, then a small tree grew in her path and tripped her, the tree went down before the dust cleared, so no one would notice.

Gaara looked at me, he saw it, I acted as if I hadn't done anything, Nagoshi got up and brushed herself off, we started walking again, I stayed as close to Gaara as he would let me. She followed us asking many questions, mostly Temari would answer, then she asked, "So why are you here?" she asked pointing to me, "You aren't from around here."

We stopped, I wanted to keep walking but no one spoke, she poked me, I decided that I liked her; she was just as annoying as me, only maybe more. I smiled a little as she kept repeating her question and poking me, my arm was starting to bruise, but I didn't care, I was watching Gaara's face change, he was annoyed, as I wasn't, it was fun.

The next time she poked me, something grabbed her finger, it was sand, Gaara was finally annoyed, "Just answer her already." He grimly said, there was annoyance in his voice, I could tell. I was going to say that they kidnapped me, but I didn't know how any of them would react, "I moved here just recently," I replied a little nervously.

Temari stepped up, "You aren't from around here either, what do you care?" I looked at her, I felt relieved that the attention was off of me, even though I did like Nagoshi, she seemed like the perfect friend for me, but now I didn't feel like talking.

I watched as the sand tightened, I elbowed Gaara un-expectantly, "Let go." I whispered so only he could hear. The sand let go but grabbed my ankle discreetly and tripped me, so it looked like I fell down on my own.

I was embarrassed, I knew what had tripped me but no one else did, so it looked like I fell down without even moving. Nagoshi was standing there and helped me up, she was smiling but I don't think she thought it was funny, "It's ok, I'm clumsy too."

_CLUMSY?!_ I thought angrily as I clenched my teeth, I forced myself to smile and Gaara had already started walking again, not wanting to be starred at, I walked beside him.


	8. Escape

We walked through huge gates, I wasn't sure what was going to happen and I wanted to go back, I was sure that they would let me, but I would end up getting lost again. I grabbed Gaara's arm without realizing it because I was nervous. He glared at me, then I realized I was holding his arm and let go, I stayed close to him though.

There was a huge door in front of us, two guards were there, they looked at me then at Temari and Kankuro, and then stepped aside and we walked in. There were more guards and then a man wearing a mask and what looked like the Hokage outfit, only blue and had a different symbol on the hat.

I stared at him for a while, I was suddenly pulled down so I was kneeling and my head was pushed into the floor. It was uncomfortable and seemingly ridiculous, I didn't care who was doing it, I grabbed there hand and dug my fingernails into there wrist. They let go, I realized it was Kankuro, I giggled a little as hid hand lifted off my head, and I sat up.

I looked around, everyone else, except for Kankuro was kneeling with there heads to the floor, Kankuro was trying to get me to let go of his wrist. After a while I did, then a man spoke, "Bow down." I realized he was talking to me; I obediently put my head to the floor, trying not to make much of how dirty it was.

Suddenly, the doors opened, I looked it was Nagoshi, the guards were holding her arms, "This girl was trying to sneak in." Nagoshi looked at me and smiled a little, "The girl claims that one of those four knows her." The guard continued. "I spoke up, but still sounded quiet, "I do."

They looked at me, and then dropped Nagoshi; she seemed relieved that I said something. Even though I had said that I knew her, I don't think the guards wanted anyone else in here. They grabbed her once more; the Kazakage motioned for them to take her out.

I got up and was going to follow her, "Stop." I heard a voice, I turned around, it was the Kazakage, or one of his guards, I couldn't tell. I naturally stopped, but I wanted to keep going, I sighed, this was getting old, I was tired of being told what to do, but I had to, the only way that I would be stronger than anyone here, was if I depended only on my inner demon, but I didn't want to, so I obediently sat back down.

I still wasn't quite sure why I had come here in the first place, one of the guards spoke up, "Who is this girl and why is she here?" Temari spoke up, "Her name is Cho, and she is the one on the wanted poster." Temari held up the picture to show them, I gasped a little, _wait,_ I thought,_ that is a wanted poster? Why am I on that?_

"I did nothing wrong." I protested, the guard said nothing, he inspected the photo and then inspected me, I was nervous. "This isn't the right girl, you are wasting our time." He seemed confident with his answer, I knew he was wrong, but I didn't say anything.

Temari then pointed to the abilities, the guard read them carefully, "There is no way this pathetic girl could be able to do anything as good as that." He proclaimed. I was mad, I wanted to hit him hard, but I somehow seemed to control myself.

I clenched my fist, if I said that I could do those things I don't know what would happen, I didn't particularly want to know either. Temari looked at me, "Well, show him." She said, like I was going to. "Show him what?" I asked clueless.

Temari now looked as upset as Kankuro usually does; I assumed that it was because I was making her look like a fool in front of the most important person in her village. I giggled a little, trying to hold back, I sure as heck didn't want to let them get praised for kidnapping someone, me to be specific.

The guard, looking quite impatient said, "If you haven't brought the right girl, then don't bother coming." I felt a hard jab in the ribs, Temari had hit me with her elbow, I thought one of my ribs broke, my hand glowed and I touched my ribs, it wasn't broken, and the guards saw me do that.

Someone grabbed my arm, I looked it was the guard that doubted Temari before, _great, _I thought,_ I'm wanted and I didn't do anything, why me? _I tried to pull away, I felt so helpless, I didn't know what to do, what ever the reason, it wasn't me. I wanted to find out who had framed me, before I was punished.

I kicked the man who grabbed me hard in the stomach and ran, through the doors, I saw Nagoshi, she was standing there, looking bored, she decided to run with me, "What are you running away from?" she asked. I pointed back as all the guards had come out the door.

Nagoshi was smiling, I don't know what she thought was so fun, I kept running, I was tired, Nagoshi seemed like she was just jogging, I felt so slow. Nagoshi looked at me, I was about to stop when I felt something whiz past my leg, it was a kunai, it barely cut my leg, but it made me run faster than I ever had before.

I didn't know where I was going, everything seemed to look the same, I saw the gate that we went through before and knew that was where I would go. Nagoshi was running next to me, she wasn't sure why everyone was after me, but it looked like she didn't care, "Why, are you following me?" I asked out of breath.

"Cause you're running," She replied, it annoyed me, I was glad once I made it out of the village, I looked back, only 3 were following me, I wondered where Temari, Kankuro and Gaara had gone. I slowed down a little, and then stopped once I realized that those 3 had stopped.

I put my hands on my knees and caught my breath; I sat down and tried to figure out which way to go now. I stood up; Nagoshi looked like she wanted to run some more, "Do you know which way it is to Konoha?" I asked, not thinking that she knew.

"Yeah, it's uh…" she paused and closed her eyes and pointed, "That way?" she seemed to be asking me. I sighed, "So you don't know where it is?" I was a little annoyed, but I wouldn't mind going places as long as I would have proper supplies. I started walking, Nagoshi followed me.

I wanted to run, but I was very tired, I sat down and looked up at the sky, the sun was setting, but I hadn't gotten very far, "We will travel at night." I announced to Nagoshi. "It will be cooler and less exhausting." She smiled slightly, "So why are you all-of-the-sudden wanting to travel with me?" I shrugged, "I don't know, I guess I just don't want to travel alone, even when I was with those three, I at least felt a little safe."

I heard something, I turned towards the sound, but I saw nothing, the atmosphere was tense, I stood up, "Let's starts walking now." I said shakily as I started walking, I kept looking around, but saw nothing. I knew someone was following us, and I think I knew who, but I didn't say anything. We kept on walking until the sun came up, I was tired and sat down against a rock, I saw the familiar sand everywhere, I sighed unhappily as I fell asleep.


	9. Pain

When I woke up, the sun was just setting, I sat upright, Nagoshi was sleeping happily, she had a smile on her face. I pushed on her a little to wake her up; she didn't even seem to notice me. After a while of pushing and shaking her, I started repeating her name and eventually she woke up.

I was a little annoyed; it was now dark, "Come on," I said, not bothering to whisper, who could hear her? "We have to start walking now." She got up and we started walking, up ahead I could see a small fire and tent and three small figures, I assumed they were just lost campers.

We got closer and closer to the campers, my stomach felt uneasy, I wasn't sure what it was, but something was telling me to avoid them. I started to make a big loop around them, Nagoshi, who was still following me said, "Why are we going this way?" she seemed to yell it, I shushed her.

One of the persons got up and started walking towards us, Nagoshi was waving and I was standing there, as the person got closer I realized it was Kankuro. "Great." I mumbled, _if that's Kankuro, then Temari and Gaara must be the other two._ Nagoshi was still smiling as far as I could tell.

I cleared my throat a little and nudged Nagoshi, "We have to go." I said as I started moving, one of the others got up, I couldn't tell who it was, I was walking at sort of a trot when suddenly the figure disappeared, _Gaara_, I thought, as I remembered that he had disappeared the other day ago.

Nagoshi was following me, not really sure why I was running. I assumed that Gaara would try and cut me off, but he just appeared next to Kankuro, I stopped, not sure why he was next to Kankuro instead of chasing after me.

Nagoshi ran towards them, she looked like she was ready to greet old friends. I ran after her, I was going to stop her when something grabbed my foot, I fell for it, he must have known I would come back. I was ready to beg for forgiveness and hope that they wouldn't like kill me.

Oh My Gosh! Nagoshi started poking Gaara, I took that chance to get up and ran over to Nagoshi, but the sand had already stopped her, now I felt stupid. I was standing there, Temari got up, she sounded annoyed, "What are you boys doing over there?!" she yelled, Kankuro turned around.

"We are busy! If you really want to know come over here!" His voice was angry, I looked at Nagoshi, she had stopped poking Gaara, I 'tapped' Gaara on the shoulder, "Just so you know," My voice was a little shaky, "I won't go back." I reluctantly crossed my arms, but on the inside I wasn't sure why the heck I had said that.

Nagoshi made a hand sign and disappeared, she was really just going to fast to see, I thought she had left, _figures_, I thought, _I am just full of bad luck._ The ground seemed to move underneath me, I looked down, the sand was moving, I stumbled back trying to avoid getting my foot caught in the sand.

All of the sudden Nagoshi appeared beside Gaara, she looked like she was going to punch him, the sand went up, and she disappeared again and kicked him on the other side. He fell down, but the sand caught him, I stood there, _she didn't leave, but why is she helping me?_

I was stunned, I stood there and watched Gaara get up, Nagoshi had stopped; she didn't look at all tired. Temari came over in time to see Nagoshi kick Gaara, she looked surprised. Before I knew it sand was wrapped around my legs, now I couldn't run away, I tried to pull my legs out, but it was no use, the sand hardly even moved.

I stood there, my hand was trembling, it was an uncomfortable silence, my legs were hurting, and I realized that the sand was getting tighter. Suddenly it felt as if my bones shattered and the sand let go, my legs weakly collapsed beneath me and I fell down. My hand glowed, I healed my legs partially, but I couldn't seem to do much, not in the little time I had.

Kankuro smirked, "What was that about not going back?" I felt embarrassed, if I had just kept my mouth shut this probably wouldn't have happened. I sat there, slowly healing my legs, wondering when Kankuro would stop gloating, "It's not like you helped any." I said to Kankuro.

He was steaming but didn't say anything, it was fun to get to him, and I was buying some time, he really did some serious damage. My legs were almost healed and Nagoshi looked ready to run again, except I knew that I couldn't, I finished healing my leg, only one of them, and I was also getting fidgety, I decided to buy more time.

"You know," I started, "I might come with you if I knew what was going to happen, and if I knew why I was framed…" My voice trailed off as I looked around and realized Nagoshi was gone. I stood up, my leg was sore even though I had finished healing.

suddenly, she appeared and picked me up, I was exhausted, but I hoped that she knew were she was going. I was tired and found myself falling asleep,_ I hope that Nagoshi doesn't get lost, _I thought in my head.


	10. Death for Nagoshi?

It seemed as if Nagoshi ran forever, I looked, none of them were following, and I closed my eyes and decided to heal my other leg. My hand glowed and I started to, in my mind, connect leg muscles and bone fragment.

Nagoshi finally stopped and set me down, "You can walk now right?" she asked. I looked at her, "How did you know?" I sounded sincere. She shrugged, "Well, both your legs got hurt, but when I picked you up, only one leg felt damaged," she explained.

I said nothing and stood up, surprisingly with ease, it was dark, and I was not tired at all, I looked one way, there was a line of green, I started walking that way, Nagoshi easily kept up in speed.

By sun-up, I realized that small green line was the forest I was so accustomed to. I smiled and Nagoshi started poking me, I looked at her, "Hm?" she shrugged, "Why are you smiling?"

"I can see my home," I said quietly, I felt happy, almost as if I hadn't been home for years. Then I realized, my mouth was extremely dry, but we were still a long way from the forest, I remembered what they said about the cactus, and water.

I looked around, _no cactus,_ I sighed heavily, my stomach growled very loudly, my check turned red, Nagoshi looked at me, she was holding a bruised and mashed apple, "You hungry?" I looked at the unappetizing fruit.

I took it silently, and I realized we both stopped walking, before I took a bite, something changed the atmosphere, and a chill ran down my back, I dropped the apple from the chill, but picked it up, without paying much attention to it.

I took a bit and spit it out quickly, it tasted grosser than it looked, "Sorry, how long have you been holding this?" I asked Nagoshi, she smiled, "A month maybe, I don't remember," I almost puked.

I looked ahead at our destination, "That is the way to . . . Konoha . . ." I slowed my words when I thought someone was standing right behind me, I looked, Nagoshi was gone and I smiled.

"Very funny Nagoshi, I know" I turned to be face-to-face with Gaara, I stepped back and realized Kankuro wasn't far behind, and Temari wasn't in sight, but I heard something, and a huge gust of wing seemed to blow right at me and sweep me off my feet.

All of me was getting cut up, all I could do was protect my face with my arms, witch got cut up too, and then I landed on the dusty ground with a hard thump.

I winced with the pain, my body was cut up, and there were cuts and bruises all over me. I didn't move when Kankuro started walking towards me. I looked around, _where's Nagoshi?_

I saw that Kankuro had Nagoshi in an uncomfortable position; he was also holding a kunai to her neck, which stopped her from moving.

She was still talking the heck out of him, "Let me go, you can't kill me, let me go you idiot! Drop the kunai now or I'll hurt you so bad . . ." she kept on going and going.

I struggled to get up, "Let Nagoshi go, she didn't do anything wrong." I protested, my cuts quickly healing, the cuts seemed to slowly fade away, but I still was much weaker than usual, I got in a fighting stance and stood ready.

I waited, nobody moved, I eventually saw Temari, she was adjusting her fan on her back, _did she do that to me?_ I thought watching her stop next to Gaara.

I started trembling without realizing it, I was distracted with my thoughts of how strong Temari and Gaara were, I didn't notice Kankuro.

Kankuro let go of Nagoshi, then grabbed me, one hand holding my hands, and the other pointing a kunai at my neck. He pressed it against my neck, it was cool and smooth to the touch, I felt light headed and passed out in his arms.

As I was passed out, Nagoshi got up and charged at Kankuro, he pressed the kunai harder against my neck and threatened, "You move any closer, she will die," Nagoshi stopped, "I'm sure we can come up with an agreement," she tried to reason.

"You have **nothing** of our interest." Gaara turned his attention to Nagoshi, since I was passed out. Nagoshi looked at him, "Wow, you know you look a lot like me?" she asked out of the blue. He blinked, he didn't say anything, he ignored her comment, and then motioned to Kankuro.

Kankuro disappeared in a puff of smoke and appeared next to Temari, holding me still, the kunai still on my neck. Nagoshi didn't move, she looked at me, who seemed peacefully unconscious.

"So, is that a yes?" she asked in her usual annoying tone, Gaara glared at her, "No."

A smile appeared in the corner of Nagoshi's mouth as she disappeared, she reappeared behind Gaara and kicked him in the back of the knees, the sand came up and blocked it.

She disappeared again and kept trying to kick him, but each time, the sand came up and blocked it. Gaara stood there, calm, as if nothing was happening, then Nagoshi muttered," Time to kick it up,"

She stopped, right in front of Gaara and concentrated, her chakra moved to her feet and she started to move, but before she could, sand had already grabbed and surrounded her.

Two words escaped from Gaara's mouth, "Sand Coffin."


	11. The Promise

**I know you all LOVED that cliffy, come on, admit it - well, here's what happens - don't worry, Nagoshi is FINE. Oops! Maybe you should just read it, I'll shut up!**

Gaara lifted his hand, and the sand lifted Nagoshi up, Temari but in, "Gaara, is that really necessary?" his hand twitched and he turned to face Temari. The sand let go of Nagoshi and she fell to the ground, but easily caught herself.

Gaara glared at Temari but said nothing, "We have the girl, there is no need for that . . ." she explained. He stood there with his arms crossed as the sand refilled his gourd.

Nagoshi watched the sand, "That is so cool!" she exclaimed, keeping a good distance though. Gaara turned back to Nagoshi, who seemed amazed at what he did.

Nagoshi looked at me, Kankuro still had me and I was **still** unconscious. Temari and Kankuro started walking back, and Gaara soon followed, "Hey! Wait a minute!" Nagoshi ran after them, though she really didn't need to, she just felt like it.

The three didn't stop; she caught up to them and walked alongside Kankuro, who was carrying me. She poked him and he stopped walking and stared Nagoshi down.

"You didn't give my friend back," She said pointing to me. A small smile twitched slightly in the corner of his mouth, "You're really testing my girl." He growled, but Nagoshi just nodded.

"You going to give her back? Or will I have to make you?" Nagoshi seemed to want him to refuse; she had extra energy to burn. Kankuro handed me to Temari and took the puppet off his back, "I'd like to see you try," he said.

Nagoshi smiled and disappeared, she reappeared behind Kankuro and started to kick him, the puppet blocked the hit and one of its arms grew a knife and it came at Nagoshi.

Nagoshi easily dodged it, but was a little surprised, "So, you're fighting with a puppet?" she asked. Kankuro scoffed, "What's your point girl?" the puppet returned to Kankuro's side. Nagoshi pointed at the ugly multi armed puppet, "Well it's ugly," she said plainly.

Kankuro didn't respond, he made a hand sign and jumped back, the puppet went after Nagoshi again. To her surprise, it stopped just before it hit her, she took a step back and something grabbed her, she was inside Kankuro's other puppet, "That was your mistake wasn't it?" he smirked.

Nagoshi made a few hand signs and blew fire, the puppet burned to ashes and Nagoshi quickly ran at Kankuro. Kankuro quickly jerked his only puppet towards him, _damn, she's fast_.

Nagoshi took out a kunai and two shuriken, she hid the kunai, but threw both the shuriken, Kankuro dodged them easily and before Nagoshi could takeout the kunai, the puppet grabbed her and wrapped its long creepy wooden arms around her.

"Now aren't you regretting everything you just said girl?" He smirked, Nagoshi shook her head, "Nope, its still an ugly puppet," she took out the kunai and fiddled with it, she stuck it into the puppet's side and made a hand sign, she seemed to disappeared, she ran far away from the puppet that she had just escaped and set off the exploding tag.

The puppet shattered and Nagoshi stood there, she looked at Temari, but she was gone, so was Gaara, she looked, and Kankuro disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Nagoshi looked around, she didn't see anything but two ruined wooden puppets; she bent over one and picked it up. The puppet started to move slightly, she dropped it and took a step back, it stopped moving, _creepy._

Nagoshi looked around, "I'm pretty sure I know where they went . . ." she said to no one in particular, and started off towards the Sand village. She stopped for a moment and looked at the sky, the sun was high up and it could be a very hot day, so she sat against a rock and took out a piece of old fruit and took a bite.

She watched the sun go down, the stood up but didn't bother to brush the sand off, she didn't mind, she made a hand sign and transferred all the chakra to her feet and looked at her destination ,"Don't worry, they didn't win." She said as she ran off.

**Sorry it's so short; I wanted to post it as fast as possible, since the cliffy that happened last chapter. I hope you review, and feel free to flame me if there is something wrong.**


	12. Punishment or Reward?

I woke up, the room was quiet and empty except for one person. Kankuro. I looked at his head; it looked like he had cat-like ears. After a while, he couldn't take it, "What are you staring at girl?" he asked angrily.

I pointed at his 'ears', "Do you have ears?" I questioned stupidly. He stared blankly at me then replied flatly, "Yes." I walked over to him, so I was about a foot away from him and kept staring at his 'ears', then an amusing thought crossed my mind.

I reached out and grabbed the tip of his hood and pulled it off quickly, revealing two catlike ears. I couldn't help but exclaim, "Oh My God! That's adorable! You have cute kitty ears!"

He clenched a fist, "Give my hood back," he growled, but I was already out the door. Then it hit me, I was in the same house thing as before, and I ran right into the man with a cloth covering half his face, I stumbled back and fell on the ground, still holding Kankuro's hood.

Kankuro quickly took that time to take his hood back and cover his ears. The man glared at Kankuro suspiciously, then his glare turned to me, "Get up." He commanded. I got up as he told me to.

He looked at Kankuro, "I thought you said you could handle the girl." He barked, Kankuro didn't seem to care that he was getting scolded by his sensei.

The man with the cloth over his face motioned to Kankuro and he scowled and shoved me back to the room I had just run from. He backed me into the corner and growled, "Tell **anyone** about that and you will regret it, got it?"

I nodded and he walked out of the room, I followed, not wanting to cause any more trouble, for now.

When I walked out, I noticed Temari standing by the door, and Gaara on the other side of the room, glaring at nothing. Kankuro stood by Temari and the man walked out, but before he went out, he stopped, "Bring her to the Kazekage by the end of the day." He then walked out.

I stood silently for a while, then looked at Gaara. _Has he been there the whole time?_ I thought. Kankuro spoke, "So, whenever you feel like going . . ." My gaze turned to him, I was staring at his covered ears. I knew he wasn't talking to me.

Temari shrugged, "We could go now I guess, since 'sleeping beauty' doesn't know when to wake up." She was talking about me.

Kankuro sighed and started out, Temari followed , I assumed Gaara went out after me. It took a while, but finally I asked, "What is that man's name? You sensei?" Temari looked at me, she seemed amused, "Don't know why you want to know, but it's Baki." She said, I snickered at the name.

Then I thought of another question, "How come you consider the Kazekage so important? He just looks like an old man to me?" She just laughed silently, "Just watch what you imply." She said as we walked down the dusty road to the Kazekage's building.

On the strangely silent walk, I had time to think, I remembered when that wanted poster picture was taken, and why. I used to work for Orochimaru, and I was guilty.

I did terrible things, and I figured if I ran away, and stopped my training with him, it would all go away, it would be forgotten, I guess I was wrong.

We walked into the room and the old man was sitting there, he looked at me sharply. I clenched my fist, my eyes flickered to the door, but I knew better than to think of running, no, I was going to do whatever I could to make it right again. I was going to face my punishment.

I dug my nails into my fist, I looked back at the Kazekage, but he was gone, I flinched towards the door when something hit me in the back of the knees, I fell forward and a knee dug into my chest, I coughed and spat blood.

I fell to the ground and twitched slightly, I could hardly move at the moment, and the old man sat back down. I heard something, it was so quiet it was almost in my head, "I tried to warn you" it said. I shut my eyes tightly and took a deep breath, then looked at the Kazekage, still lying on the floor.

"Now I'm going to assume that you won't try that again, correct?" the man spoke with a firm voice, I nodded weakly and sat up.

"So tell me Baki, why is this child brought before me a **second** time?" The old man asked Baki, who was standing beside him, I knew, "It's because I ran out last time, and I won't do that again." I said sincerely, he glared at me, "I did not address you." He said firmly.

After Baki explaine4d the situation, though he didn't have to, The Kazekage said something to Baki, who repeated it to Gaara, Kankuro, and Temari, and they quietly walked out, I watched them leave and the door close. "Excuse me, where are they going?" I asked a little fidgety.

The Kazekage smirked, "I don't think you deserve to know that, but since it is part of your mission, I must tell you." _Mission? Did I hear him right?_ "You will be escorting me, as my bodyguard to the Chunin exams, where we will see Gaara fight their best pupil."

"I thought I was to be punished, why am I being assigned a mission?" I asked confused. "Would you rather die Cho?" he asked sharply, when he said my name I shivered, not many people use my name, I shook my head.

"Good, then you will sleep in the guest room tonight, tomorrow, you should be prepared to leave. A guard escorted me to a room, with a bed, a sink and a side table, I sat on the bed and lay down, sleep quickly overcame me, though I was very excited and confused all at once.


	13. Orochimaru returns

Nagoshi walked down the road, looking around, "Now she's got to be around here somewhere" she said to herself, she looked around and spotted Gaara, Kankuro, and Temari walking down the road.

She ran up to them, glaring as scarily as possible, "What did you do with my friend?! If you hurt her I will never forgive you!" she growled, Kankuro smiled slightly, "We didn't do anything too her, she is in the Kazekage's building, but you'd be safer to just run away girl."

His remark wasn't the smartest of things to say, she disappeared, she punched Kankuro in the stomach, then ran towards the Kazekage's building.

Kankuro stumbled back, "Maybe she does have a chance of getting it . . ." he gasped quietly, catching his breath as Gaara and Temari continued on.

Nagoshi stopped in front of the building, she looked around, and there were no guards, suspicious. She opened the door to see the Kazekage sitting at his desk and filling out paperwork.

Nagoshi watched silently for a while, she crept in and the old man looked up, "Your ninja skills could use work, much work." He said plainly, Nagoshi had to think of an excuse, "Um . . . have you seen my friend?" she said.

"She's about yey tall . . . and has short brown hair, a little annoying, but nice, and-" The old man cut her off, "I have" Nagoshi nodded, "And where is she?" she asked, he motioned towards a door, Nagoshi cautiously went over and opened it, I was on the bed, fast asleep.

Nagoshi looked at the old man, he was already working again, she walked in, "Cho, get up, we have to leave, Cho wake up!" she started to shake me and instinctively I grabbed her wrist, my eyes shot open, "What do you want?" I whispered.

Nagoshi pointed out the door, "We need to go." I shat up and shook my head, "I have a mission," I smiled slightly, Nagoshi looked curious, "What's that? Can I come?" she asked happily.

I briefly explained to her what it was, and what I had to do, "So . . . can I come?" she asked again, I shrugged, "I guess, but stay hidden. Bad things could happen, and we might die, you know that right?" I asked, Nagoshi didn't seem to care, "So can I come?" she repeated.

I nodded, "Yes, you can come, now let me sleep!" I said, lying back down. Nagoshi walked over to the corner and sat down, she closed her eyes, and I fell asleep.

The next morning, Nagoshi was already up, she was eating a piece of mushy fruit and I sat up, rubbed my eyes and realized the door was wide open, my face went blank, the old man was already, or still working at his desk, I got up and looked at Nagoshi, are you ready to go?" I asked, she eagerly nodded and jumped up.

I smiled and walked out of the room with Nagoshi quickly behinds me, the old man didn't look up, "So do you have everything you need?" one of the guards asked me, I nodded and patted my kunai bag, which was all that I needed, and had for that matter.

The guard shook his head then alerted the old man; he looked up, "Let's go." He got up and walked out; I followed him on the right side, Nagoshi on the left, and two other sand village guards in the back.

The old man was choosing the way, since I was unaware that we were going to Konoha, we walked through the gates and down the sandy invisible path in the desert, at least someone knew where we were going, I was glad of that.

It was quiet and I figured that's how it would be the whole way, after a few days of walking in the desert, I started to see the forest, it crept up on us until it surrounded us, I felt pleasant breezes occasionally and it felt nice, I wasn't expecting anything to go wrong, and I was glad, I let my thoughts wander.

Something whizzed by, it cut my check and one of the guards fell back, I looked, he wasn't dead, I could save, him, I ran over and my hand glowed, I healed his kunai wound, he seemed frightened. Of what, I didn't know.

Nagoshi looked around, "Where did that come from?!" she asked urgently. I was going to answer, but she shushed me, she stopped and closed her eyes, focusing on her hearing, she pointed to a tree, there was a figure hiding there.

The Kazekage stopped suddenly and fell over, "Kazekage-sama!" I yelled as I ran over to him, I turned him over and tried to heal him, he was dieing faster than I could heal.

A tear rolled down my cheek as I continued to try and heal him, I heard a voice, it was cold and eerie, "He is dead child, you of all people should know whom is dead cannot be saved."

I looked to where the voice was coming from, there was a pale man, his eyes like snakes, I recognized him, and I could recognize him anywhere, Orochimaru, my only teacher.

He bent down and touched my face with his cold white hands, he wiped a tear off with his thumb, "He cannot be saved, he is dead child, but, you can still protect, the Kazekage!" he hissed, I watched, terrified as his face melted and transformed into the Kazekage's exact look, I couldn't move, I was too afraid.

His clothes did the same, and soon he looked exactly like the now dead Kazekage, he stood up, I stayed down, over the corpse of the Kazekage, now trembling.

"Come child, you mission is to protect, the Kazekage!" he hissed louder, I stood, now more than ever, this man made me scared for my life, he taught me everything I know, and he was going to use me as a container, which he had just figured out how to do, I looked back, Nagoshi stared wide-eyed, I motioned to her.

She stood still, not sure what to do. Orochimaru looked at the two guards, "Better make waste of them, right . . . Cho?" he asked me, I looked at him,"No, Orochimaru, Sensei, please don't make me kill another, I won't do it, I can't!" I pleaded, Nagoshi ran fast, I thought she was going to attack Orochimaru, instead, she got me in a firm headlock, "Tell me what's going on, Sensei?!" she asked confused.


	14. The Truth Revealed: Cho's past

"Nagoshi, let go." I said calmly, I tried to break free, but Nagoshi was strong, a vine grabbed Nagoshi's ankle and dragged her down, she let go of me to catch herself.

The vine let go and Nagoshi stood up quickly, "What's going on? I thought this snake guy was bad?" she seemed very confused. I looked at her, silent for a while, unable to speak, Orochimaru made a quick hand-sign, the two guards fell down dead.

My eyes went wide; I couldn't believe I just let 3 men die, right in front of me. Nagoshi asked, "What's going on Cho?" I looked at Nagoshi, and then at Orochimaru who was behind me, he looked like the Kazekage, exactly.

Unaware of it, another tear rolled down my face, it was warm, but everything around me felt cold, "I . . . It's long and complicated, we have to go." I said finally. Nagoshi shook her head, "I can wait."

"No, the Chunin exams can't, we have to go." I explained, hoping Nagoshi would come with. Nagoshi looked at me suspiciously, then eyed the 'Kazekage' "Start explaining, now!" she said firmly.

I closed my eyes and inhaled, "Ok, When I was young, my family was killed, except for me and my brother, my brother was evil, he was the worst thing that ever happened to me, and one day, he got me mad, and something happened, I wasn't sure what, but something inside of me formed, like anger. I felt powerful, and I wanted to kill him, kill my brother, and I did, but I felt horrible about it, I was alone, with no one.

"Then, as I was wandering the forest, I realized I had a talent, it was special and unique to only me, I could communicate with the plants and animals, they did whatever I wanted them to do, but it didn't make me happy, I still felt alone and powerless. Then, Orochimaru found me, he was going to kill me, but when he found out my abilities, he said that I was to be trained, and used as a 'container' but I didn't know what that meant, I only knew I wouldn't be alone anymore. So I followed him, he took me to a place, it was dark, but it was the only home I had.

"And he did as he promised, he trained me, he made me stronger, but he asked me to do horrible things, I felt I owed him something, and I did it for him, I killed people, I didn't want to, but he asked, and I felt as if I had no other choice. Then, when I was returning to Orochimaru, a man, he had a mask, it had strange patterns but was the shape of an animal, and he stopped me. I had blood on my hands, I was guilty, but I managed to escape him, I ran, not to Orochimaru, but away, away from the danger, and I thought it would be forgotten, but I was wrong.

"It followed me, the guilt of killing all those people, I had the power to heal, but instead, I destroyed, but now . . . " I started to cry a little, I never wanted to tell anyone about my past.

Nagoshi stood there, her eyes wide, her eyes continually shifting from me to Orochimaru, "Now you can fix it Cho, stop him, so no more innocent people are killed." She said, I stood, thinking about it, I shook my head, I wasn't strong enough to kill Orochimaru, who knows what he has learned since I last saw him, those many years ago.

Orochimaru laughed slightly, "Isn't it such a pitiful story?" he asked Nagoshi, she gazed at him, "Cruel . . " she said quietly.

"No, we have to go, the chunin exams are waiting . . ." I tried to get Nagoshi to come, "You have to transform, you know how to right? We stiol have to go through with the mission.

Nagoshi was shocked, "Cho are you crazy, what mission, the Kazekage is dead!" she exclaimed, I shook my head, "No, he's right here." I said, pointing to Orochimaru, who looked like the Kazekage.

"That's right, we can't keep then waiting can we?" he asked, Nagoshi shook her head, "If he can kill a Kazekage, then he can fend for himself." She said stubbornly.

"You two can stay here and watch from a distance, the invasion of Konoha, if you wish." Orochimaru insisted. I looked art him, "You aren't going to hurt anyone are you? Please don't! You can't do that!" I said suddenly.

Orochimaru shook his head, "Child, you don't understand anything yet, but if you come with me, I could teach you, and train you more.

I ran, without thinking about anything, that second, I ran away, I didn't know what was going to happen, but I ran, and I heard footsteps, they were fast, and they were right behind me.

I looked, it was Nagoshi, I felt slightly relieved, but I didn't stop running, soon she was caught up to me and she slowed her pace to stay with me, I finally stopped, I was panting heavily, and Nagoshi was just standing there casually.

"I can't let him do that, he can't hurt all those people, it's my fault and I can't do anything to stop it!" I creid, Nagoshi looked at me, "You may have done bad things in your past, but that doesn't make you bad now, you CAN stop him, you can save all of Konoha, I know you can!"

I nodded, "Ok . . ." Nagoshi plucked a branch off the tree and drew a plan in the dirt. "So what we have to do is wait, we'll wait until he drops his guard . . ." I stopped her, "Nagoshi, I'm sorry . . ." I said, she looked at me and smiled, "It's ok." She continued with the plan, I wasn't sure how well it would work, but it was worth a shot.

**Thus ending chapter number 14, don't know how many there are going to be, but hopefully, not so many that my fingers fall off X-X**


	15. Chunin Exams are over

Orochimaru sighed, "It can't be helped . . ." he walked down the road to Konoha, alone, and when he reached the tower, the two Konoha guards looked at him, "Kazekage-sama, where are your two men?" one of them asked.

Orochimaru motioned his head towards the forest, "They had an accident . . ." he said, and the guards sighed and let him through, he climbed the stairs to the top floor, where he sat in a chair and the Hokage, Sarutobi sat in the other.

He sat quietly and watched the matches, Naruto and Neji. The next match was the Sand's Gaara and Sasuke, who Orochimaru had laid a curse mark on before; he figured out quickly that the boy had survived.

Sasuke was nowhere to be found, and his match was supposed to be now. Sarutobi sighed, "We have no choice but to announce Gaara the winner by default." Orochimaru glanced quickly at his sensei, "No, we have to wait." He said quickly.

Sarutobi looked at him questionably, "Why?" he asked simply, Orochimaru replied easily, "There are many important people, from a long distance, they came to see this match, if we cancel it now, it would make them all very mad." He said.

Sarutobi nodded, "Very well," he whispered something to one of his guards and they disappeared and repeated it in the proctor's ear.

"The next match, between Sasuke and Gaara, is postponed, the next match is . . ." he looked at the list, Temari had already come out of the waiting area and was on the field, Shikamaru hesitated, "Go on Shikamaru! You can do it!" He patted him on the back and pushed him onto the field.

He laid there for a while, then their match went on, in the end, he had Temari trapped with his shadow possession jutsu, and he raised his hand, "I give up," he said simply, the crowd was dumfounded and angry.

Now Gaara and Sasuke's match was the only one left, the proctor checked his time, Sasuke had 15 seconds before Gaara would win, the crowd waited anxiously.

The seconds ticked down and then at the last second, Sasuke and Kakashi appeared in a burst of leaves. The proctor sighed, "The match between Gaara and Sasuke will proceed!" he shouted, Gaara had already started down the stairs and was in the field by the time he had said that.

Their fight began.

Orochimaru watched anxiously as Gaara made a sand dome, Sasuke tried attacking it, but with no prevail, then he jumped onto a wall, did many hand signs and chakra started to form visibly in his hand.

_Interesting_, Orochimaru thought. He watched as Sasuke raced towards the sand dome and his hand dug into it, the spikes came out, and cut him, but Gaara was screaming.

Orochimaru got word from a sand nin, it has started, he threw down two smoke bombs and killed Sarutobi's guards, and he took him by the neck and held a kunai to the Hokage.

Sasuke looked quickly to where the smoke bombs had gone off. Kankuro and Temari knew, "It's started, we have to get Gaara!" Temari said urgently.

Kankuro nodded and he and Temari jumped down and over to Gaara, who had lowered his dome, his arm was bleeding where Sasuke had hit him.

Kankuro put Gaara's good arm over his shoulder, "He's used up too much chakra in this fight, we have to flee until he can unleash it." Temari nodded, they were about to leave when the proctor and Sasuke stepped in their way, Kabuto came from the hypnotized crowd and stood next to the 3 siblings.

He took off his fake onbu mask and pushed up his glassed. Kakashi, Guy and Sakura had not fallen under the genjutsu, Kakashi saw something going on in the field, so he went down, the sand sibs ran out of the field and into the forest, Kakashi turned to Sasuke, "Follow them, this is no longer the Chunin exams, it's a mission."

Sasuke nodded and ran after them.

Orochimaru smiled under the cloth, "I knew this time would come, sensei . . ." he said in his regular voice. Sarutobi smiled a little too, "So this is it" he said simply.

Orochimaru took the Hokage to the roof, where he then stood for a while; he took off his Kazekage disguise revealing his pale skin and snake eyes.

Four of his followers made a dome, so nothing could get in or out of their battle and they fought. Orochimaru was talking, and taunting his sensei the whole time.

…

After a while, Sarutobi couldn't take it any more, he used a forbidden jutsu, a hideous monster appeared, holding his soul, and his arm reached through it, it grabbed Orochimaru's soul and started to pull it out.

Orochimaru saw the thing and called his sword, it went through Sarutobi, "Why didn't you dodge it old man?!" he asked surprised and slightly weary.

Sarutobi explained the effects, and when he realized he didn't have the strength to pull Orochimaru's soul out, he instead cut the arms of his soul, leaving him unable to from hand signs.

Finally, Sarutobi dropped dead, the shield dropped down and the four that made it grabbed Orochimaru and fled.

The ANBU watching ran to Sarutobi, "Hokage-sama!" Their masks were masking their expressions (wow, sorry, that sounded so much better in my head) but they mourned for him.


	16. the end, or a new begining?

Gaara, Temari, and Kankuro ran through the forest, they had to wait it out until Gaara had enough energy to transform into his demon form.

The while, they had to stay on their toes because Sasuke was right on their heels, Nagoshi and I were waiting, not knowing that the four of them would be headed straight towards us, we were waiting for Orochimaru, but he had already left, and we didn't know that, our plan had already failed.

I sat, nervously , and waited, I saw three figures, I couldn't make then out because they were so far away, but I pointed them out to Nagoshi, she seemed to fearless, I didn't get how she did it.

We waited until I could make out the figure, I nearly jumped out of hiding, it was Gaara, Temari, and Kankuro, but they were running, as if from someone.

Nagoshi held me down, she put a finger to her lips, I nodded. They stopped to catch their breath and Gaara was doing something with the sand, it was forming an arm around his arm, like an animal.

I watched then the blue haired boy, Sasuke came, I couldn't hear all the words they were saying, "You . . .Prey . . .Sasuke Uchiha . . ." I watched as Temari tried to help Gaara, he shoved her against the tree, I couldn't take it, after a while of hiding, Temari looked frightened, she started running.

I decided to follow her, Nagoshi right behind me, we finally caught up with her, "Temari, what's wrong?!" I asked, she looked at me confused, "I thought the Kazekage . . ."

"The Kazekage assigned me as a body guard but then something happened and" I was cut off, "We have to get out of here, we'll be crushed if we don't" Temari looked terrified.

I nodded, "Alright, you can fill us in later." I said as we ran. Finally, Temari stopped, I was bent over my knees out of breath, and I looked up at Temari as I panted, "So . . . Why . . . did we . . . have to . . . run . . ?" I asked taking breaths between words.

Temari smiled, "You didn't really work on getting your stamina up did you?" she remarked, I didn't say anything, "Anyways, Gaara has a demon in him, since he was born, the Shukaku, and that's why he's able to move the sand, but everyone feared him . . ." She went on and explained Gaara's past, and about how he killed everyone closest to him.

I started to feel really bad for him, _no wonder he's always so grumpy,_ I thought. Temari went on, then I felt a huge gust of wind, I looked and there was a HUGE raccoon made of sand and what looked like a giant from with a boy on his head.

Temari shivered slightly, she pointed to the raccoon, "That's Gaara's demon, he let it take control of himself." She said fearfully.

We watched in dead silence as the frog and raccoon fought, then Kankuro came towards us, he looked beat up and in pain, I ran over to him, "What happened?!" I asked, he glared at me, "What is this brat still doing here?" he asked.

Temari sighed, "It's a long story." I looked at him, he looked like he would pass out any minute, "Do you need help?" I asked, trying not to be too annoying.

Kankuro said nothing for a while, then he mumbled something, "What?" now I was getting too close to him and he pushed me away, "I'm fine." I grinned slightly and my hand glowed, I gently grabbed the arm he pushed me with, there were tiny bite marks all over his arm.

I ran my hand slowly and gently down his arm and healed it, it was taking a lot of energy out of me, but I finally healed Kankuro almost completely.

I smiled and sat down against the tree, completely out of breath. Temari looked, there was no raccoon or frog or anything, "It's quiet, we should go see if Gaara's ok" she said as she ran off, Kankuro followed her.

I sat there quietly and watched them run off towards where they thought Gaara was then turned to Nagoshi who was standing upright, "How did you do that?" I looked a little confused, "Do what?"

She sighed irritably, "Heal him, duh!" she said with a smile, I closed my eyes, "I don't know . . ." I said as I started to drift into sleep.

I heard a twig break, instinctively I shot up, it was Temari and Kankuro, they were carrying Gaara who was seriously hurt. For a long time, no one talked, then finally Nagoshi spoke out, "Cho can't you heal him?" she asked, now everyone was looking at me, I shrugged, "I can, but it would take a lot out of me . . and I don't think I have enough chakra to"

Nagoshi touched my arm and suddenly it felt as if chakra was flowing into me, I jerked away, unsure what was happening.

"I was giving you my chakra." Nagoshi said, answering my confused face. I nodded, "Oh . . ." my hand glowed and Temari and Kankuro set Gaara down, I touched his bloodied forehead lightly, and healed him the best I could.

He was nearly unconscious, and wasn't very aware of anything as far as I could tell. I focused all my energy into healing Gaara, and then I took my hand off his head and sighed, "He's fine . . ."

I stood up and brushed myself off, Nagoshi helped Gaara up, since she looked so much like him, it seemed like she was his sister, we, all 5 of us, went back to the Sand village to report back and tell what happened, on the way, I told them of my encounter with Orochimaru, and how he killed the Kazekage before I could do anything to stop him.

Temari sighed, "So now we need a new Kazekage . . ." she thought for a while, and the rest of the way back to the village was dead quiet.


End file.
